Welcome to the Predator Ecology Lab!
Since 2008, as part of the Wildlife Science Program in the University of Washington's School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, we have sought a better understanding of how predators influence their surroundings by interacting with one another and their prey. Much of our work also seeks solutions to the challenges of large carnivore conservation and management in a changing world.
Since 2008, as part of the Wildlife Science Program in the University of Washington's School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, we have sought a better understanding of how predators influence their surroundings by interacting with one another and their prey. Much of our work also seeks solutions to the challenges of large carnivore conservation and management in a changing world.
Latest News
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June 14, 2018: We have a new paper out in Conservation Letters, led by PEL collaborator Dan Thornton (of Washington State University), titled, "Asymmetric cross-border protection of peripheral transboundary species". Made possible by a Catalyzing New International Collaborations (CNIC) grant from the National Science Foundation, the paper highlights the inadequate conservation attention that is currently being given to North American species (mammals, birds, and herpetofauna) whose ranges span the borders of USA-Canada or USA-Mexico. Thanks, Dan, for inviting us to be a part of this exciting effort, and to all of the co-authors who made the workshop on which the paper is based such fun!
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June 5, 2018: Close on Apryle's heels, Lauren Satterfield has now successfully defended her dissertation proposal and achieved the rank of PhD Candidate. Santé, Lauren!
May 29, 2018: Hearty congratulations to Apryle Craig, who today successfully defended her dissertation proposal and is now a PhD candidate! Thank you, Apryle, for delivering an extremely clear and well organized talk, and a special nod as well to Shannon Kachel for tuning in from half way 'round the world.
May 1, 2018: Apryle Craig and I are grateful to the Confederated Colville Tribes for inviting us to give updates on our wolf research as part of the Natural Resources Committee Meeting today.
April 20, 2018: Thank you to Bradley Strickland and the Florida International University Marine Sciences graduate students for inviting me (AW) to give a talk titled, "Escape behavior predicts divergent responses by prey in both marine and terrestrial ecosystems" as part of their seminar series. Felt great to be back on campus after nearly 10 years!
March 19, 2018: Hannah Booth our NSF REU student received the University of Washington's prestigious Mary Gates Research Scholarship. As part of this scholarship, she will be presenting her research on plant responses to fire and top-town trophic cascades at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium in May. Congratulations, Hannah!
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March 15, 2018: Thanks to Lauren Satterfield for letting Lily Van Eeden and I tour her study area in the Methow Valley by snow machine! The weather sure helped make for a memorable trip, and we even got to visit a really neat cougar kill site.
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March 9, 2018: More exciting news to report! Today, Justin Dellinger successfully defended his dissertation titled, "Impact of re-colonizing gray wolves on mule deer and white-tailed deer in north-central Washington". Justin's project was the first of three focused on the ecological consequences of wolf recolonization for prey and plant communities in eastern Washington, and he did a super job of kicking things off. Now, he gets to return to northern California, where is working for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as a senior environmental scientist. Congratulations, Justin, and thank you for all of your hard work! We are also grateful to Matt Vanderhaegen of WDFW and Eric Krausz and Donovan Antoine of the Colville Tribes for making the long trek to attend the defense!
March 1, 2018: Another achievement to report. Today, Laurel Peelle successfully passed her PhD qualifying exam and did so with distinction. Now, Laurel moves on to preparing for her general exam (proposal defense). In the meantime, she has earned some well deserved rest. Congratulations, Laurel, and thanks also to committee member Ben Maletzke for making the long drive over from Cle Elum to join us!
February 22, 2018: Kudos to Carolyn Shores, who while heading down the home stretch on her dissertation just assumed a new position as an Ungulate Landscape Ecologist with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development in Willliams Lake, BC, Canada! Among many other tasks, Carolyn will be focusing on the ecology and management of woodland caribou. Best of luck, Carolyn!
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February 14, 2018: We are very proud of Hannah Booth, the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) award recipient whose research falls under our Washington Wolf Project, for recently presenting a poster entitled, "The relationship between wildfire and the cascading impacts of predators on plants" at the joint meeting of the Oregon Chapter of the Wildlife Society, Washington Chapter of the Wildlife Society, Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology, and Northwest Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation in Portland, Oregon. Now back on campus, Hannah will soon be venturing to the field in eastern Washington to complete here project. Well done, Hannah!
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January 12, 2018: Congratulations to PEL alumnus Dr. Tom Newsome, who today assumed his new role as a Lecturer (Early Career Development Fellow) at The University of Sydney. Good on ya, mate!
January 8, 2018: Check out this new story on the Yellowstone field course (ESRM 459) that I co-teach every spring with John Marzluff and Monika Moskal! Many thanks to the University Marketing & Communications (UMAC) team (Jack Martin, Lauren Lee, Dennis Wise, Mark Stone, Jamie Swenson, Nick Bolton, Gina Hills, Jeff Hendrickson, Sasha Im, Nick Winkelbauer, Alex Bosco) and the College of the Environment for so deftly capturing how special this class is for our undergraduates.
December 27, 2017: Publication alert! Our first paper from the Tetiaroa reef shark project is out in Marine Ecology Progress Series (Kilfoil et al. 2017). Thank you to Jimmy Kilfoil, who is working on his dissertation at Florida International University, for spearheading the effort!
December 13, 2017: Congratulations to Lauren Satterfield, who yesterday successfully passed her PhD qualifying exam! Lauren will now be returning to the field for a winter of collaring cougars and chasing down cougar and wolf predation sites in the Method Valley of eastern Washington. Yes, we are all jealous!
November 7, 2017: Thank you to Apryle Craig for acting as PEL host for 2017's Xi Sigma Pi Tour de Labs!
October 16 and 24, 2017: Congratulations to Clint Robins and Lauren Satterfield for well received talks respectively titled, "Investigating the effects of urbanization on cougar foraging ecology along the wildland-urban gradient of western Washington" and "Competition in the forest: understanding ecological relationships between cougars and wolves in eastern Washington". Clint's talk was part of the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences Wildlife Seminar (ESRM 455, SEFS 554), whereas Lauren's featured in the 50th Anniversary Symposium of the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.
October 3, 2017: We would like to direct your attention to a new paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America titled, "Extinction risk is the most acute for the world's largest and smallest vertebrates". Led by long-time collaborator Professor Bill Ripple and also involving former PEL post-doc Dr. Thomas Newsome, the paper shows that a variety of stressors are truncating the vertebrate size spectrum at both ends. Thanks, Bill, for including us in this exciting work!
August 8-9, 2017: Thank you to the Pacific Science Center and Central Cinema for inviting us to participate in Science and a Movie presents Jaws!
The Science and a Movie series offers moviegoers the chance to learn about research that is related to classic films. As part of the two night event, I (AW) got to give a talk titled, "Tiger sharks keep seagrass ecosystems healthy by scaring sea turtles" and then fielded questions from the audience about shark biology and the portrayal of sharks in cinema after the screening of Jaws (one of my favorite movies). Special thanks to Anna Ferrario of the Pacific Science Center for making all of the arrangements!
The Science and a Movie series offers moviegoers the chance to learn about research that is related to classic films. As part of the two night event, I (AW) got to give a talk titled, "Tiger sharks keep seagrass ecosystems healthy by scaring sea turtles" and then fielded questions from the audience about shark biology and the portrayal of sharks in cinema after the screening of Jaws (one of my favorite movies). Special thanks to Anna Ferrario of the Pacific Science Center for making all of the arrangements!
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July 14, 2017: I (AW) had fun presenting the results of our work with wolves in eastern Washington ("All bark and no bite? Impacts of recolonizing gray wolves are primarily non-consumptive in a managed landscape of western North America") as part of a symposium titled,
"Managing novel communities and multiple threats to achieve biodiversity outcomes” at the 12th International Mammalogical Congress in Perth, Western Australia. |
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June 28, 2017: This evening, Lauren Satterfield and Apryle Craig offered a free workshop to School of Environmental and Forest Sciences undergraduates titled, "Foundations of GPS and Camera Use." Participants got the chance to use GPS units to navigate the UW campus, and to deploy and check motion-activated trail cameras. Thanks for so generously donating your time and helping to train the next generation of wildlife scientists, Lauren and Apryle!
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June 27, 2017: Today, Laurel Peelle and Lauren Satterfield ventured to Seattle City Light's downtown headquarters to deliver talks titled, "Predator identification from saliva at kill sites with limited remains " and "Wolf-cougar interactions in eastern Washington," respectively. Seattle City Light's Wildlife Research Grants Program has long been a generous supporter of the PEL, and we are grateful to Laurel and Lauren for building on this partnership!
May 31, 2017: Shannon Kachel will be sharing stories and insights from his PhD research on interactions among snow leopards and wolves in Central Asia, as part of UW's Engage Speaker Series at Town Hall Seattle at 5:30 on June 5. Tickets are free for UW students, and only $5 for the general public.
May 24, 2017: We are pleased to announce that, today, Clint Robins successfully defended his Master's Thesis titled, "Investigating the effects of urbanization on cougar foraging ecology along the wildland-urban gradient of western Washington"! Happily, Clint will be continuing on in the PEL to complete his doctorate, which will address the influence of western Washington's wildland-urban gradient on cougar hunting behavior and interactions with black bears. His PhD research will be supported by a $20,000 grant from Conservation, Research and Education Opportunities International (CREOi). Excellent work all around, Clint!
May 23, 2017: We also have a new paper to report, published today in Nature Communications! The article ("Top predators constrain mesopredator distributions") reveals that large carnivores such as gray wolves and dingoes need expansive ranges to suppress smaller competing predators including coyotes and red foxes. The paper is covered here by the University of Washington.
May 23, 2017: Congratulations to Lauren Satterfield, whose proposal to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Aquatic Lands Enhancement Agreement (ALEA) program titled, "Assessing wolf-cougar interactions and impacts in Washington" was funded today to the tune of $16,200. The grant will support volunteer involvement in her field work, which this summer will entail visiting cougar kill sites in eastern WA (among many other things!).
May 19, 2017: We are also pleased to pass along that Erin Strand, another of our undergraduate interns, presented a poster titled, "A test of the mesopredator release hypothesis in a multi-use landscape" at the recent Undergraduate Research Symposium in Mary Gates Hall. Great job, Erin!
May 18, 2017: Happy news to report from Hannah Booth, who was just received a prestigious Xi Sigma Pi Undergraduate Research Award in the amount of $700 for her proposal titled, "The relationship between wildfire and the cascading impacts of predators on plants"! Hannah has been working with Apryle Craig as an intern in our lab and will now be able to travel to our field site in eastern Washington to examine the impacts of the historic fires of 2015 on wolf-prey-plant interactions. Way to go, Hannah!
April 26, 2017: Continuing the positive momentum, we've just published another paper in the journal Biological Conservation, this time on the impacts of domestic dogs on threatened wildlife. Led by Tim Doherty (of Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia), the paper is the most comprehensive survey of the effects of feral and owned dogs on wildlife to date, and highlights their impacts as an under-appreciated conservation challenge.
April 5, 2017: We just published a paper in Bioscience ("Making a new dog?") examining the possibility that increasing exposure to human foods and other resources might disrupt ecological roles of large carnivores and, in the case of wolves, reinitiate the early stages of domestication. Led by former PEL post-doc Thomas Newsome, the paper has already received considerable media attention (e.g., https://oxfordjournals.altmetric.com/details/18533051/news).
March 28-31, 2017: We are proud to have had Apryle Craig and Laurel Peelle represent us at the recent Joint Meeting of the Washington Chapter of the Wildlife Society and the Washington State Society of American Foresters in Yakima. Apryle presented a poster titled, "Do recolonizing wolves impact deer hunter success?", and Laurel presented a talk titled, "Predator species identification from saliva at kill sites with limited remains".
March 29, 2017: Congratulations to Carolyn Shores, who today successfully defended her dissertation proposal titled, "Ecological effects of disturbance on carnivore and ungulate communities in northeastern Washington state" and thereby advanced to candidacy!
March 25, 2017: Lauren Satterfield and Apryle Craig attended Comscicon, a 2-day science communications workshop.
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Photo is of a dingo in the Tanami Desert, Northern Territory, Australia